


Answers

by Path



Series: Midnight City Stories [2]
Category: Homestuck, MS Paint Adventures, Problem Sleuth (Webcomic)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-03-14
Updated: 2011-03-14
Packaged: 2017-10-16 23:20:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 981
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/170466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Path/pseuds/Path
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You are the best Problem Sleuth in the city. You are currently being beaten by most of the Midnight Crew. What do you do?</p><p>= = =</p><p>Midnight City Stories</p>
            </blockquote>





	Answers

Spades Slick is a nasty customer, alright, but you've never seen him this angry before, which is pretty inconceivable given how angry he usually is.

He stalks on into the casino like he owns the place (which, admittedly, he does), and just stops stock-still like he can't believe his eye when he sees the whole scene here. You can see it- one white eye like a searchlight travelling over the whole room, taking in Diamonds Droog with the pool cue, Clubs Deuce helpfully holding a replacement for when that one breaks, and Hearts Boxcars holding you. He's got a hell of a grip there, and you admire that, even when it means you've had to stand (hang) there and take a hell of a pool cue-drubbing to the chest and face.

That white beacon travels over the place, the torn-up carpet and the turned-over chairs, the interrupted billiards game (because nobody here actually plays pool, of course), and you can see the snarl develop all slow, like he's trying to hold it in. That'd be a first- you've never seen Slick hold back a real good rage.

But you're the best Problem Sleuth in the city and his own... well, not best friend exactly. Slick'd claim you're nothing to him, but when push comes to shove, you know he'd do something. And it sure feels like you've been shoved around an awful lot tonight. Even all this doesn't seem to bring out a real Spades Slick fury, though, until he sees your hat.

To be fair, it's making you pretty damn outraged too. You just couldn't do anything about it, given Boxcars and his mean grip. And Droog and his drubbings. And the overall dizziness the two combined to produce.

But Slick breaks himself out of the solid glare when he sees your hat. It's crumpled a few feet away with at least one of Boxcars' footprints on it, and your candy corn is just lying on the floor there. You made a hell of a break for it when they took that off you; even the three third-best mobsters in town combined almost couldn't keep you back. But it just ended up with you getting pretty heavily beaten with a pool cue, and your hat getting trampled in the mess.

Your _hat_.

Slick stalks over to it in a jerking halting motion that half points to mechanical shock and half to outrage. Droog seems to wisen up to his mood right away. He gives you an appraising look, a thin stiletto smile, and slinks a little behind Deuce and Boxcars. Smart guy to put some ground between himself and Slick in a mood. Slick seizes your hat (corn and all) off the ground in a swipe like a stooping hawk, and turns on his crew with the same motion. His voice is quiet, but nobody's fooled (except maybe Deuce, and he'll smarten up quickly).

"So I leave for one measly hour and I come back to this. Just what the fuck do you smartasses think you're doing?" Somehow, he doesn't make it a question. Droog is already behind the others, Deuce is starting to sidestep over to him nervously, and Boxcars drops you like a hot potato. You fall to the floor on your face in a completely hardboiled way.

There's a general chorus of "Nothing, boss," in half-apologetic tones. Slick pops your hat back out, slams the candy corn back into it, and looks back up at his lackeys. His mouth is starting to quiver, and when there's nothing further, he breaks into a full snarl, sharp teeth bared, screaming "Then what are you still doing here?" at them. Droog's the first out of the room, but then, he was always the smart one.

They're already gone, the back room door closed, by the time Slick crosses over to you. He tosses you your hat and gives you a grudging hand up; he's still wearing his full snarl. "Godfuckingdammit, how many times I gotta tell you to stay the fuck away from this place?" he says, and then he looks suddenly tired. The snarl dims into his usual grimace, and he turns away before you even get your footing.

You brush yourself off, get your hat back on. You feel more like yourself already. "Just following a lead, Slick," you say. "You know how it is. I'm like the post office- neither demons, dames, Felt or flames will stay me in an investigation-"

"You are so full of bullshit," he says, but he tosses you a towel from his desk. You get yourself mostly cleaned up, though you're still a bit worried about your hat. When you look back, Slick's got his feet up on his desk, and is glaring at you over them through his one eye. "Well?" he says.

Well. Well? You're not really sure where to go from here. Everything you were after got pretty ruined in the hat-scuffle. "Well?" you reply, playing it cool.

"You gonna let _me_ stay you from this investigation shit?" he asks. "Or are you just gonna head back out there and let some petty crook off you while you're off your game?"

You pause. Spades Slick isn't the king of all crook-kind, but he's up there- second in the city, last time you checked. And as much as you hate to admit it, you're safer off here than out on the streets. You meet his eye. "Alright," you say, putting your hands down on his desk, "but I'm going to have to ask you some questions, see?"

His expression changes to something not-rage for the second time this night (and ever), and the smirk almost makes you lose your hardboiled act. He puts his arm up behind his head like a pillow, and you know that whatever you get out of Spades Slick tonight, it's not going to be answers.

**Author's Note:**

> Not so proud of this one, but it was only my second try.


End file.
